


Soulmates were supposed to be easy

by DemonOfJoy



Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, But it's fun trash, But you have never met my flatmate, Drinking Games, F/M, Fluff, For my formative OTP, Pining, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, That being said don't let yourself be spun around after drinking, This may be trash, Yes I'm mixing my two favourite AU's, You may think the depiction of beer pong in this is unrealistic, cos they deserve it, it will not end well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-06-25 21:43:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15649506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonOfJoy/pseuds/DemonOfJoy
Summary: Every person has a tattoo that appears on their body where your soulmate first touches you after you realise you are in love with them. The tattoo is the first words they say to you after that moment.Finding your soulmate could be easy but realising you're in love with them... well Eowyn has never been good at recognising her own feelings. All she needs is a push.





	1. Eowyn

Eowyn was sitting on the run-down sofa in Gimli’s student house chatting with Eomer and Boromir about Erebor’s chances in the semi-finals when she caught sight of something that ruined the party for her. _No, scratch that, her week, nope actually maybe her life_. Eomer gave her a nudge since she just stopped talking but when she shook her head, he knew well enough to leave her alone. Right now, she needed her full attention on Faramir and the pretty girl flirting in the kitchen. Or rather she was flirting with him.

_Who is that? And why is she laughing so much? Even Faramir looks confused._ That was true at least, she could read her best friend better than anyone. He was currently wearing that cute little scrunch in his eyebrows at the girl’s laughter. _Cute? Where did that come from? And why are you taking such an interest, huh Eowyn?_

She shook her head at her internal chiding and turned back to Eomer and Boromir. But the thoughts wouldn’t stop swirling around her head and she couldn’t stop herself sneaking glances every minute back to **them**. _It might be nothing. You know Faramir, he’s always too nice to people. She might just be a friend from class_. However, the girl was ridiculously pretty she mused and she kept finding excuses to touch him on the arm which made Eowyn’s stomach twist uncomfortably.

She needed to think about this reaction to a pretty girl flirting with her best friend. She certainly didn’t react this way when girls flirted with Eomer. _He’s your brother it’s different_. Or Merry, or Gimli. _Well, you know they won’t get anywhere anyway_. Boromir? _Well… you’re not that close?_ She thought back to seeing Aragorn with Arwen for the first time. _That’s more like it_. **_Jealousy_.** But that hadn’t been as painful as watching this. _Why?_ Eowyn froze. She pulled herself away from the conversation, not that she was paying attention to it anyway, and rushed to the bathroom to have a mini breakdown.

She fled past Sam on the stairs, ignoring his call to her, shut and locked the door behind her, before slamming the toilet seat down and allowing herself to collapse. Head in hands, sitting on the toilet, locked away from everybody wasn’t how she had imagined this party going when she set out tonight. _Right, she needed to get her thoughts in order. Why are you so jealous?_

“Faramir is my best friend,” she said aloud to the empty bathroom, “I don’t want him to stop spending time with me because he gets a girlfriend.”

_Would he really do that though?_

“No,” she admitted, “but he would spend less time with me.”

_I just don’t want to be replaced as the most important person in his life (besides Boromir of course)._

_Was that really it? No of course not._ She couldn’t even watch that girl touching him, how would she deal with them kissing in front of her. She shuddered involuntarily. _Why, why, why, are you having this strong a reaction?_

_Because you love him._

**_Shit._ **

Of course, Faramir isn’t the problem here. He’s so sweet and kind and smart and witty and honest and- _Get a hold of yourself_ -It actually makes sense that she loves him. _Why are you so calm about this?_ _How long have you felt like this and not known?_ A lot about their friendship seemed weird to people who didn’t know them. But then again, none of their friendships at uni made much sense to anyone outside of their group. _Ok, what are you going to do here?_ She couldn’t exactly march downstairs and demand that he stops talking to that girl because she loves him. _Oh no, what are you going to do?_

She can’t stop him and if he chooses to go out with this girl then she’ll support him. He’s her best friend and she wants him to be happy no matter what. Even if it kills her inside. _But what if he doesn’t?_ Well, that doesn’t mean he loves her. He might not even like girls. He’s never mentioned liking anyone before to her. _Oh my god, what if he has a secret partner?_

“Stop being ridiculous”, she said under her breath.

Besides he told her ages ago that he’d never kissed anyone so hiding a secret lover seemed pretty out of character. Maybe he was just trying to be considerate. He’d been there for the fallout of the Aragorn incident as she called it. She never talked about feelings for other people after that so maybe he didn’t because of that. She had loudly declared back then that she would just have to wait for her soulmate… if they even existed. _Ugh, why is he so thoughtful?_

Or maybe Faramir does love her back? It would explain a lot… like how he never dates and spends so much time with her and gets so awkward when she suggests sharing beds after house parties. _Nope, that’s the Gondorian etiquette drilled into him, even if Boromir ridicules it. And besides Pippin would have let slip by now. He’ll tell anyone anything when he’s drunk._ Maybe she could try to discreetly question him. _Be realistic, it’s Pippin._ No, she knew what she needed to do. Go downstairs, re-join the party, watch Faramir like a hawk to see if he gave any indication of his feelings and maybe tell him how she feels.

She groaned loudly. _This is going to be terrible._

There was a knock on the door just before Merry’s voice rang out, “Eowyn, I know you’re in there.”

Accepting her fate, she unlocked the door. Almost immediately, Merry pushed himself in and tackled her in a bear hug. She could just about make out the muffled words of “Sam”, “upset” and “completely understand.”

Eowyn had to smile at his dramatic flair and that he’d so thoughtfully left the party to make sure she was alright. Then his words hit her.

“Wait a second, what do you mean you completely understand?” she questioned, “Why do you think I’m upset?”

At this, Merry drew back and she saw regret flash across his face before he schooled his features to innocence. _Pffft, as if he was ever innocent._ She spoke before he could even open his mouth, “Merry, you know whatever you’re about to come up with won’t work on me.”

He gave a winning smile, which she raised an eyebrow at.  He rolled his eyes, “Fine, this is obviously about Faramir.” When she blanched, he quickly carried on, “Don’t worry though, only me and Pip know…” His face screwed up in thought as he considered that, “Well at least we think only we’re aware of the situation.”

Eowyn started biting her lip. _Oh no, what if everyone but me knows_? At her continued silence, Merry decided to ramble, “I’m impressed you’ve finally realised that you’ve got a situation though.”

She shot him a look and smacked him lightly on the arm. “Hey!”, Merry exclaimed, “It has taken forever! Me and Pip started a bet of when you two would get together not too long after you met.”

At her hand raising to hit him again, “It was all Pippin’s idea! And I originally said over a year but this has gone on way longer than we expected. We keep having to update our get together dates. After the whole thing last year, we’ve agreed to alternate weeks-“

Eowyn’s eyes narrowed, “What whole thing last year?”

Merry’s eyes widened in consternation almost imperceptibly, “Nothing, just me and Pip looking into things too much, that’s all.” She rolled her eyes as he quickly diverted the subject, “What are you going to do now that you’ve realised?”

She started biting her lip again. “I really don’t know,” she murmured, “I kind of want to tell him, kind of want to never face this and mostly want to get him as far away from that girl as possible.”

At Merry’s amused smile, she continued, “Yes, I know I’m being irrational, but-“

“Eowyn,” he put his hands on both her arms reassuringly, “Trust me when I say you have nothing to worry about there.” Rolling her eyes, she opened her mouth but he kept going, “She can flirt all she wants, Faramir is going to do nothing.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Merry paused in apprehension, “This actually happens a lot and he always lets them down gently… you know once he realises they’re not just being friendly.”

She let out a snort. That sounded exactly like something he’d do. But how oblivious has she been as well? Not realising this was going on. _Ok, so with her out of the question, are you going to tell him?_

“Not tonight,” she said aloud. She quickly glanced at Merry but he just chuckled and hugged her.

“I’m not going to pressure you into anything you don’t want to do, but, you know, if you feel like dealing with it, I would appreciate if it was by the end of this week or else wait until two weeks time.”

That did make her laugh. Grinning at his success in cheering her up, he grabbed her hand and pulled her from the bathroom, “Right, now let’s go get drunk and not worry about the current messes that are our lives!”

Merry dragged her downstairs, making his way towards the kitchen. Faramir and the girl were now just outside the door with Pippin talking to them while gesturing wildly with his drink, sloshing it everywhere. Pippin winked at her as they were approaching before continuing with whatever crazy story he was telling. She smiled despite herself. Merry gave an affectionate pat to Pippin’s head as he passed before roaring, “Who’s up for some drinking games?”

Not long after, Boromir had lost his shirt, Gimli was letting Arwen plait his beard and Eowyn was pleasantly tipsy. It was at that point, Eomer suggested beer pong. Merry nudged her before she could start feeling sorry for herself and whispered, “I’ve lost my partner too and let’s be honest we’ll make a way better team.”

It turns out they did. They were on their third round, completely decimating Eomer and Sam. They had one cup left and Eowyn hadn’t missed a shot yet. Arwen and Legolas were chanting ‘She’s beauty, she’s grace, she’ll punch you in the face’ while she was lining up. **Boom** , she sank the ball in effortlessly. Everyone cheered while Eomer chugged the last cup. Merry picked her up and spun her around while Gimli loudly proclaimed that they were the new reigning champions, heroes of a new age. When she was set back on her feet, laughing loudly, she glanced out of the kitchen and Faramir’s eyes met hers. Him and Pippin were now surrounded by a group of unknown girls but he’d clearly been watching for a while as he was grinning in pride and mouthed, “What a shot!”

Eowyn paused for a moment, taking in his grey eyes twinkling at her and the amused smile playing at his lips, before beckoning him over. Faramir made to get up off the sofa, but the girl sitting next to him grabbed his arm. He made a grimace at her before turning towards the girl and began gesturing towards the celebration in the kitchen. Glad he was joining them at last, Eowyn turned back to Arwen and Legolas demanding a rematch against Boromir and Beregond, and Gimli bemoaning having Aragorn as a partner.

When Faramir still hadn’t joined them a minute later, she turned back around in time to see the original girl sitting on the arm of the sofa, leaning in towards him as if to kiss him. Her eyes bulged in horror but Faramir quickly leaned back further into the sofa and put his hands in the way. An apologetic expression on his face, he began talking quietly to the girl, but she leapt up and started shouting.

Relief turned to anger and before she knew what she was doing, Eowyn stalked over to the sofa. The girl was mid-tirade but wavered in confusion when Eowyn planted herself between her and Faramir and then trailed off.

Taking advantage of the momentary quiet, Eowyn restrained herself and managed to speak in a relatively calm voice, “I don’t know who you are, but nothing gives you the right to speak to another human being that way just because you feel embarrassed.”

The girl opened her mouth again but Eowyn carried on to stop further argument, “I realise you may have felt lead on, but I promise you, he is just completely oblivious and had no intention to hurt you. If you’d given him the chance to explain, I’m sure you would have seen that-“

“Yeah, yeah, like he’s a paragon of virtue,” she spat, “From turning me down, I can tell he’s stupid as well as boring.”

Eowyn gritted her teeth, “Insulting him is going to get you nowhere so I think you should leave.”

“Leave,” the girl laughed, “Why? He’s a coward, getting you to fight his battles for him-”

_That’s it_. “Get out now,” Eowyn snarled, “Faramir is kind and smart and loyal and does not deserve this. He’s been nice enough to talk to you in the hopes of making a friend because he sees the good in people and you’re treating him like **this**. But I see the worst and you’re living up to it so leave before I make you.”

She recoiled as if Eowyn’s had hit her. _Oh, how I wish_. Looking around, the girl saw her friends had disappeared in the commotion and people were staring. She seemed to accept her defeat but muttered “Asshole” before turning away. Seeing people still watching her, she shouted, “Haven’t you got better things to be doing?” before walking out the front door.

As people turned back to their own conversations, Eowyn turned to Faramir.

“Are you okay?” she asked, placing her hand on his arm in reassurance.

His eyes were shining in gratitude as he looked up and smiled at her, “Better now that you’re here.”

She didn’t follow whatever he said next as all she could feel were her soul words burning on her hip as he said them. She gasped and just stared at him in shock.

“Eowyn?” he asked worriedly, placing his hand on her waist _(over her words)_ to angle her towards him, “What’s the matter?”

Gulping in air, unsure of if she could speak, she placed her hand over his hand on her hip and tried to control her breathing. Faramir looked bewildered at her hip before realisation dawned in his eyes and he stood up abruptly. Grinning, he blurted out, “It actually happened for you? You’ve realised?”

Controlling her breathing went out of the window. _They were soulmates. He loved her. **Soulmates**. He already knew. **He loved her**. How long had he known? **SOULMATES**._

Eowyn turned on her heel and ran.


	2. The Aftermath

Eowyn had only taken a few steps when she realised Faramir wasn’t following. She turned back towards him, hating herself for putting that heartbroken expression on his face, grabbed his hand and dragged him out.

Her thoughts were too loud to notice if he spoke at all while she was pulling him through the house. She reached her destination of the small, scruffy garden and let herself breathe in the fresh air. Releasing his hand, she immediately started pacing, “I’m so sorry I’m freaking out this much but an hour ago I realised I love you and now we’re soulmates! I just-Oof!”

Faramir’s arms surrounded her and she let herself be held. Snuggling in, resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes, Eowyn immediately felt better. Faramir muttered soothing words and pressed kisses into her hair until her breathing began to even out again. _How could I have been so blind? Faramir’s even told me Gondorians don’t kiss anyone but their soulmate and he’s always done this when I’m upset. How long as he known?_ Her heartbeat sped up again, wondering how long she’d been a terrible soulmate.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he murmured into her hair, “Are you really that upset to be stuck with me?”

Eowyn untangled herself enough to look him in the face and opened her mouth to start arguing when she saw the teasing glint in his eyes. Huffing she put her head back on his shoulder, “You know it’s not you.”

He pressed another kiss to her hair before replying, “I’m glad to hear that, so what’s the matter?”

She let her thoughts go to where the real pain was. Voice trembling, Eowyn trusted him enough to understand, “My family doesn’t exactly have the best track record with soulmates, do they? My mum… my uncle. And when it doesn’t end that way, they want nothing to do with us, like with Theodred.”

Faramir’s arms tightened around her while she relived watching her mother fade away to nothing after her father’s murder. Then when she and Eomer were taken in by her uncle, his aunt had died soon after. She had tried to tend to her uncle during his depression but struggled on her own while Eomer and Theodred were at boarding school. Since seeing his therapist, her uncle had improved greatly but still had his hopeless moments. Her family cared too much, even when their partners didn’t.

Theodred’s words had appeared around puberty like most but had started to fade when he was seventeen. It showed his soulmates reluctance to give their soulmate a chance, to believe in the universe’s system. If they had disappeared abruptly, he would have known his soulmate had died but they were still there, translucent in their apathy.

The world put so much faith in its matchmaking system that most people didn’t stop to think of the consequences of believing one person would be their entire life.

Eowyn had admitted this line of thinking to Faramir before in a moment of despair and had often wondered if her soulmate's words had faded like Theodred’s. Eowyn turned her face towards his chest and whispered, “I don’t want to turn out like them.”

Faramir leant his head on top of hers and kept it there even after she dramatically puffed his hair out of her mouth, making her smile.

“Eowyn,” he soothed, “nothing is going to majorly change apart from us getting to call all the stupid stuff we do dates. You’re one of the strongest, most independent people I know and us being together isn’t going to change that. I love you for who you are.”

A warm feeling spread through her chest at his words. _He said it out loud. He loves you._

“Besides do you really think anyone is going to let us disappear from our group?” he continued, “I bet you Merry and Pippin would actually fight me if you stopped going out and getting into trouble with them. And are you going to stop fencing with Hild just because you got a soulmate? Your weekly film nights with Morwen, Arwen and Galadriel aren’t going to go away either. And Gimli would just host his parties at wherever we were.”

A bit more comforted, Eowyn couldn’t help herself, “That’s here at uni though, soulmates are for life.”

“That wasn’t so daunting when I was just your friend, was it? I distinctly remember you offering your home to me on the condition I didn’t bribe Windfola into liking me more with onions.”

She laughed at the memory. Windfola had taken a liking to him straight away due to his pockets always being full of treats. _And it’s true. I offered him a place to stay whenever. Fuck Denethor and his rules._

“Also, we’re stuck with Boromir, Eomer and Theodred for life I’m afraid. They’re not exactly going to leave us after uni.” She snorted.  “We can love more than just each other,” he continued softly.

Eowyn let out a deep breath. “How are you so good at this?” she asked, “I feel useless when I try to comfort you and surely if we’re soulmates I should be good at this-“

“Eowyn,” he said sharply, “Every time I’ve been upset, you’ve made me feel miles better just by being there. I’d never really had that before so you don’t appreciate how much that means to me.”

It was her turn to tighten her arms around him in comfort and she murmured “I’m sorry” into his neck.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“You say that now before you realise what a terrible soulmate I’m going to be,” she teased. Then gasped, broke out of his arms to look him directly in the face and asked, “Faramir, how long have you known? When did I say your words?”

Faramir began worrying at his bottom lip. At her raised eyebrows, he stopped. “A little over a year ago,” he admitted.

_A YEAR! Oh my god! I’m a terrible person_. All the soulmate pairs she knew had had a month between them at most. She knew she was never going to have the perfect realisation moment, but this was bad. _A year! ...‘Whole thing a year ago’ Merry knew!_ He could have tried to warn her. _Ugh, that would have defeated the purpose._ Not everyone could be the perfect matching tattoos of ‘I love you’ and ‘I love you too’ like Aragorn and Arwen. She rolled her eyes involuntarily.

Faramir chose to give a small cough at that moment. When she refocused her eyes on him, he looked amused, probably at her rolling her eyes at her own thoughts. He gave a small smile, “I just didn’t want to pressure you into anything and make you feel trapped. I thought it was best to let you do your own thing and if we matched then great, amazing, perfect… but if we didn’t,” he paused, “Well we could still be friends.”

Eowyn couldn’t help herself. She kissed him. It wasn’t the technically best kiss. In her haste, they bumped noses and clashed teeth. But he definitely got the message. When she broke away, she rested her forehead against his, revelling in the feeling.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“Love you too.” Faramir smiled widely, then as if catching her thoughts from earlier carried on, “You know, I’m pretty sure we have matching soul words, despite the, uh lapse of time.”

Pulling back, she looked at him quizzically. He kissed her nose then broke away to roll up his t-shirt sleeve to show the slanted script of ‘Are you okay?’ neatly inscribed in a band across his upper arm. She grinned before lifting her shirt to show the words barely legible above her high-waisted jeans ‘Better now that you’re here’.

“We can lie when we tell everyone and say we’re the perfect couple,” he joked.

_Oh god telling everyone._ Eowyn’s grin turned evil, “Do you happen to know anything about the bet on us?”

At his repentant expression, she continued, “I have an idea.”

 

When they rejoined the party, only their core friendship group was left and playing two truths and a lie in the kitchen. Eomer spotted her first and looked concerned, “Are you guys alright?”

Both Merry and Pippin’s heads whipped around immediately. Steadfastly ignoring them, Eowyn replied, “Yeah, we just thought it was best to remove ourselves from the situation.

“Probably for the best,” Arwen piped up, “You looked this close to punching her, Eowyn.” She gestured a ridiculously small space between her fingers, squinting dramatically, “Although that would have been glorious.”

That prompted various assents of how awful the girl was and that maybe she deserved a punch. Privately, Eowyn agreed. However, Boromir’s voice rose above the rest, “And who would have thought Faramir of all people caused it! My baby brother! A heartbreaker! I mean look at him”

Faramir rolled his eyes and stated dryly, “It’s obviously because I’m gorgeous.” He framed his face with his hands in the classic vogue position completely straight-faced.

Everyone began sniggering while Pippin said loudly, “To be fair, I would.”

Confused at the laughter around him, Frodo naively asked, “Would what?”

This brought on a round of ‘Oh Frodo’s’ while Pippin kept winking and waggling his eyebrows until he got it.

Legolas then brought the conversation to an abrupt stop by agreeing with Pippin, “Honestly, so would I.”

Gimli stared at him incredulously and sensing an argument that he had inadvertently caused, Pippin leapt up and shouted, “I demand a rematch of beer pong since I would have definitely beat Eowyn!”

Surprisingly it worked. Gimli immediately yelled that he wasn’t being stuck with Aragorn again and people started arguing who was going to be stuck with him. “Subtle, Pip,” Merry said sarcastically while patting his head affectionately. He then shouted, “Prepare to be defeated by the dream team!” while bounding over to claim Eowyn. Faramir shot her a quick look and she nodded. _It’ll still work._

“C’mon we’ve got to sort out our game plan,” Merry said, grabbing her hand and pulling her into the corner. He tried to form a ‘huddle’ with just the two of them then just looked at her expectantly.

“Erm, aim well?” At Merry’s exasperated look, she carried on the charade, “What? It’s beer pong! It doesn’t need a game plan!”

“Eowyn, if you don’t tell me what the hell happened between you and Faramir outside, I’ll ‘accidentally’ miss every shot and make you drink all of them.”

“If we don’t win this, I’ll never tell you what happened,” she countered.

He eyed her sceptically but she stared him down. “Okay, once we win this, you’re telling me everything. And I mean answering every question I ask.”

She gave him a nod and then grinned victoriously. He poked her cheek, “I wouldn’t be smiling if I was you, I didn’t put a limit on the subjects of these questions, so I get to know everything about anything I want to!”

He broke into a cheeky grin and zoomed off to join the others before she could hit him.

When she rejoined the others, they were obviously taking it more seriously than earlier. Gimli had even got his whiteboard out to keep track of the teams and who won each round. The teams were; Arwen and Legolas, Frodo and Sam, Her and Merry, Eomer and Theodred, Pippin and Faramir and finally Gimli and Boromir, with Aragorn overseeing it all.

Playing against Arwen and Legolas was always an easy win. From people who claimed to be from Elvish descent, they had terrible hand-eye coordination. And from seeing them play their respective sports, she suspected that they were more interested in the drinking aspect so made sure to maximise that. Frodo and Sam again were easily beaten. Although Eowyn always felt guilty, making tiny Frodo chug that much alcohol. Merry had no such concerns and was dancing while counting down Frodo’s last drink.

Gimli and Boromir were a much bigger challenge and made them drink but Merry was motivated and sank every shot. Gimli downed his last drink, muttering about the craftiness of Hobbits while Boromir laughed loudly at Merry’s proud expression. They were then up against Pippin and Faramir. Eowyn got an unfamiliar swooping sensation in her stomach when Faramir winked at her across the table before poking his tongue out in concentration in prep for throwing. His concentration meant nothing as they were both swaying on their feet due to them being thrashed by Eomer and Theodred earlier.

Aragorn loudly announced that as Eomer and Theodred had also won every match they played, whoever won this game, won the whole competition. This was going to be hard. They took the reputation of Rohirrim drinking seriously. Eomer wasn’t going to take their earlier victory lying down. Theodred, on the other hand, might be able to be distracted. Eowyn made eye contact with Arwen, who immediately understood. She nudged Legolas and whispered something to him, making them both grin evilly. Just as Eomer was lining up his first shot, they broke out into chants encouraging Merry and her. Eomer looked annoyed but carried on. However, their blatant support of one team started the others off. Soon, Gimli and Boromir were cheering for Eomer and Theodred, while the rest were joining in with Arwen and Legolas. Theodred looked distracted and missed shot after shot. However, Eowyn also missed one, making it all down to Merry’s last shot.

He took a deep breath then threw. It arced through the air, bounced off the table, then circled around the rim of the cup. Everyone was silent.

Waiting.

Watching.

It fell in.

The room erupted in cheers and Eowyn was being spun around by Merry before she knew it. They were then hoisted up in the air by Eomer and Theodred. Laughing and looking around, she saw Frodo hijack the music to play ‘We are the Champions’ then start swaying and singing with Sam. Arwen and Aragorn were having a disgusting make-out in the middle of the kitchen and Gimli and Legolas looked like they were going to be soon following.

When they were set back on their feet, Pippin ran over and spun Merry around. When she turned to find Faramir, he was a pace away with a mischievous glint in his eye. She smiled despite herself and he stepped forward, took her into his arms and kissed her. _Woah._ When she told him to kiss her in celebration, she wasn’t expecting this. Her arms instinctively wound around his neck to bring him closer and deepen the kiss. She’d never felt like this before. Her heart was soaring and her head was dizzy. She reluctantly broke away to catch her breath.  Meeting Faramir’s eyes, she saw the depth of his love and admiration and smiled brightly. Hearing the wolf-whistling and hollering from their friends, she kissed him again quickly before turning to face the future, hand in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Hope it lives up to your expectations!   
> The last chapter will be a flashback to Faramir's words but honestly, since I love this AU so much I may keep writing one-shots whether people want it or not so if anyone has any requests feel free to ask away!


	3. Faramir

Unlike most, Faramir remembers the first time he heard about soulmates. Boromir had to explain to him why his father was so upset when his mother died. The other half of his soul. The perfect person for them. The universe’s fool-proof system to make people happy. Faramir didn’t understand a lot but he knew they were important. As he grew up, he heard many different definitions. Gondor put a lot of stock into soulmates. But there was one underlying message in each. A person who will love you no matter what. He could do with one of those.

Don’t get him wrong, he loved Boromir with his whole heart but it would be nice for someone to love him unconditionally without being obligated to. Not that everyone kept to those obligations. His father had turned bitter after his mother’s death and had decided to blame it on her poor health ever since his birth. So, obviously it was his fault. No matter what he did, it was never good enough. When he scored top of the class marks, Denethor would read his report impassively. When Faramir would play the latest pieces of music he learned for concerts, Denethor remained unmoved. Desperate to please his father, he even joined the same sports teams as Boromir. While he did well technically, he had no true passion for it and only kept at it for his father.

Throughout it all, Boromir was there for him. He took him for ice-cream, turned up to every performance and practiced with him until Faramir was second only to him in the team. His support was snide comments to their father, claps on the back and proud shouting in audiences. They never talked feelings though. That was why Faramir could have cried when he saw his words. No-one had asked him if he was okay in years.

He often imagined the circumstances that his soulmate would say those words and that he would realise he was in love with them. His favourite one when he was younger was his soulmate dramatically saving his life and checking on him after. Then they would live happily ever after, fighting crime side by side. Okay, so he’d wanted his soulmate to be a superhero. And maybe his self esteem was bad enough that he was always the sidekick in those daydreams. But it didn’t change the fact that he always dreamed his soulmate would be an inherently good person. Enough to care about him.

Things changed when Boromir went off to uni and not for the better. He was under so much pressure and everything he did was a disaster in his father’s eyes. It was almost a relief when Denethor erupted and decided to disown him when he was accepted into university too. Boromir managed to mitigate their father enough to stop the complete disownment but Faramir was essentially not welcome at the family home. That was the point he most desperately wished for his soulmate.

He’d hoped he would meet them at uni but after the first semester, it wasn’t looking good. He had course friends and had managed to make a close friend in one of his housemates, Beregond but everything fell into place when he met Pippin. He was a ball of light and energy and made Faramir laugh more than he had in years. What’s more is that Pippin was so free with his affection. Gondorian etiquette was that there were no public displays of affection between anyone with the exception of soulmates. So, Faramir was very unused to being hugged by friends. Let alone the casual flirting, Pippin threw out to everyone. Faramir was well on his way to believing Pippin could be his soulmate when he was introduced to the friend group. The fellowship as they called themselves.

There he met Eowyn.

Okay, so he hadn’t made the best first impression. In his defence he’d never had to interact with someone so beautiful before. With her long golden hair flowing all around her, reflecting the light, Faramir had to stop and blink after catching sight of her. Then he saw how sorrowful her grey eyes were and made it his goal to try to cheer her up. When he had worked up his courage to go over and talk to her, he stumbled over his (normally perfect) words, inadvertently insulted her and just generally made a fool of himself. She had laughed though. Maybe at him. But he still achieved his goal. She did essentially rebuff him saying she’d prefer to be alone, but she had seemed lighter after.

He’d obviously made a good impression on the group though. He was invited back to many group events and felt a sense of belonging he hadn’t had in a while. He lived for every smile Eowyn would give him at each event, whether it was a polite greeting or if he managed a witty remark in a group conversation.

However, a defining moment was the ‘friendly’ debate he got into with Aragorn about politics. Yeah, maybe he’s a little idealistic. But he’s also doing a degree in history and can tell you countless examples of futile wars over the same reasons. Aragorn was obviously happy someone could keep up with him but they kept clashing. Everyone was either watching or offering their own opposing opinion. No-one emerged victorious but Faramir had a lot of people on his side, including Eowyn, which he counted as a win.

She began to seek him out after that. First, it was just at group events but then it was her, Merry and Pippin and then just her and him. They got closer and closer, the more time they spent together. She even let him come stay with her family for a time over the holidays when he couldn’t go back to his. Eventually, she was the first person he wanted to tell news to, missed her when she missed out on something big and couldn’t go two days without talking.

When Eowyn invited him to come watch her compete for the first time, he was blown away. She was so fierce and determined. She could have been a hero straight out of the old legends. A real-life superhero. Theodred and Eomer whooped and hollered from their seats but Faramir could only watch in amazement. Since then he always made time for her fencing matches.

However, he loved the time he spent with her best when they were just doing nothing. She let her guard down then. They would talk about everything and nothing. Play stupid games. Make ridiculous bets. Times like now.

They were supposedly studying but both knew that wasn’t going to happen outside in nice weather. They’d still set up by the lake on campus, books strewn about, pads of paper in hand. Yet, Faramir could see exactly what Eowyn was doing with her notebook. To be fair, it was turning out into a very good sketch of the lake. Her hair gleamed in the sunlight, brightening up her face. Her eyes were focused on her sketch and her tongue was poked out in concentration. He felt a smile forming on his face at her concentration.

He always felt happier when she was around and never questioned it. Still, friends didn’t stop reading their book because they looked up and their friend took their breath away. He knew he loved her. But was he in love with her? She glanced over and caught him staring, then smiled wickedly. His heartbeat sped up. Yes, yes, he was. No-one else had ever made him feel this way. Quiet realisation washed through him and he belatedly realised he was still staring when Eowyn reached out and shook his arm. Her smile was softer when she asked, “Are you okay?”

His words burned under her touch. He blinked in shock. “Er-of cour-I mean yeah, no, I’m fine.”

Faramir mentally hit his head against a wall… repeatedly. He hoped those words weren’t on her arm. He’d practiced for this situation. Instead he’d panicked. Hard not to do when he realised the girl of his dreams was his soulmate.

Eowyn just laughed at his stumbling words. His heart rose in hope that she was laughing at gaining context of her words. But instead she asked, “What were you lost in thought about this time? The downfall of Numenor? Glaurung? Or are you trying to compose without your instruments again?”

Although his heart fell as soon as it had rose, he had to chuckle, “Hey, stop making me out to be such a nerd!”

She laughed in response. “Believe me, you don’t need my influence to give that impression.”

He pouted dramatically. “Says the girl studying pre-med, a national fencing competitor and horse riding instructor in her free time. Talk about an overachiever!”

Eyes crinkling, she laughed again. He wished he could capture this moment. The pure happiness on her face. He was so screwed.

“I think you’ll find that makes me the perfect blend of nerd and jock to be considered normal”

He scrunched his nose up in fake disgust, “Ew, who’d want to be normal?”

Her eyes got distant at that. “Me,” she said softly.

Faramir spread his arms instinctively. Eowyn smiled at his response then scooched over so she could rest her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her and tentatively pressed a kiss to the top of her head before laying his head on top of hers.

He’d never done that before. Did she mind? Surely, she must know something had changed. Gondorians didn’t kiss anyone but their soulmate. Oh god, had he just revealed they were soulmates? She hadn’t reacted to his words, so she must not know yet. Or had he already said hers and she was waiting for him?

This was too stressful.

Faramir desperately tried to look at her expression for clues but couldn’t see anything from his position. He was supposed to be the calm one out of the two of them. He just needed to think. Actually… that might be it. Eowyn always gave away what she was thinking just by looking at her. At least to him. There was no way he would miss a sign that big that he’d said her soulmate words. She would definitely panic.

So, she didn’t know yet.

But what if he never said her words? Not everyone matched. His heart sank even further. He’d be alone forever.

He mentally slapped himself. No-one was going to abandon him. He had a good group of supportive friends. Besides Eowyn had already offered him a place to stay whenever he wanted. That wouldn’t change if she knew he was in love with her… would it?

He took a deep breath.

Eowyn raised her head at that, looking concerned, “Faramir?”

He smiled at her weakly. Then it strengthened because she was genuinely worried about him just because his breathing changed for a second. So, what if she never loved him back romantically. He had the best friend he could ever ask for sitting right next to him. He would wait and see if they matched, but he realised he would always have Eowyn.

But it was probably for the best that he didn’t kiss her right now. No matter how powerful the urge coursing through him at the moment.

Instead he smiled evilly. Or at least his best approximation of it. It would never match up to Eowyn’s. Or Pippin’s. Or Merry’s. But still the sentiment was there. And Eowyn recognised it too late.

“Faramir, what are you-“

She screamed in delight as they went rolling down the slope together towards the lake. He let go of her in time to stop himself from carrying on into the lake and annoying the ducks. Eowyn was less lucky. She didn’t fall in but crossed the border into the territory of The Swan. It was already ruffling its feathers and heading towards her.

Oh shit.

He rushed forwards to help her up. He was just grabbing her hand to pull her up when he caught the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. He didn’t have time to react before he was being pulled to the ground and pushed into the lake.

When he resurfaced, Eowyn was already running away with her feathery pursuer not far behind.

“You deserved that!” she called, breathless with laughter, hair streaming behind her as she ran back up the hill.

He had to agree no matter how soggy he currently was.

Yep, he was totally screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all for the original story. Sorry it took so long - life got in the way!  
> Thank you so much for reading and commenting and kudosing it means a lot.  
> I might do one shots here and there in this AU so keep an eye out

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Any feedback is always welcome. Next chapter should be up in about a week just for the drama (and editing)


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